Bulgaria 🇧🇬 ( Days 69 – 75)

Sunday (5/22). Sharon hit a bit of a wall yesterday. She rallied, but again today her heart just wasn’t in it. We biked into Kardzali and found a small bus heading to Plovdiv. Sharon went on ahead to get some mental R & R. That spared her two difficult days in the mountains and gave her an opportunity to relax and explore. On her own for the first time in 10 weeks I might add. The highlight of her evening was happening upon locals practicing traditional folk dancing. Sharon ended up chatting with sixteen year old Stella and got the scoop. People like Stella all the way to oldsters like us meet every Sunday to practice. Apparently every song has its own unique dance steps. Stella loves the dancing and keeping alive this bit of history.

While Sharon was making new friends in Plovdiv, I spent a beautiful day crossing the mountains. Rustic villages dot the rolling hills and valleys. Occasionally the road ascends into lush forests. It all combines for pleasant biking. Unfortunately on this day I struggled to find a discreet place for camp and ended up continuing long after I had hoped to stop.  Finally beyond Novakovo I followed a gravel road to a small reservoir, and a perfect place to spend the night. Just me, two stray dogs, and a stork.

Monday (5/23). If you’ve been following our travels for a while, then you know that bicycle touring is not all unicorns and fairy dust. Today proved that. Last night Sharon treated herself to beer, a burger and, it turns out, a generous helping of food poisoning. Her relaxing rest day in an exotic location has been filled with countless short trips between the loo and bed. 

During my ride to Plovdiv, the scenery was pleasant…the drivers not so much. A semi driver with a low opinion of cyclists refused to give me any extra room, but did treat me to a 15 second blast from his air horn while passting! Thanks! Twice I had to dive off the road to avoid being pancaked by oncoming vehicles who just had to pass, in spite of my presence in their passing lane. I hope a certain rude gesture translates accurately into Bulgarian. And for some reason, all my friendly greetings received stony glares in return. (I thought I was saying hello…?) So while we have met some wonderful folks here in Bulgaria, not all are  “full of the milk of human kindness.” On top of all that, I had two broken spokes that needed mending! Oh joy! Some days you’re the pigeon, other days you’re the statue. Today was definitely a statue kind of day.

The question arises, what to do on the days when you are feeling shat upon by the metaphorical ‘pigeons’ of life? I choose to focus on the positives. And even on this day, there were plenty of positives. Sharon was sick in a beautiful location in comfy surroundings. I was able to make the bike rideable again. That’s a check in the plus column. In Asenovgrad I bought a pastry from a sour looking woman. After a few bites I said in Bulgarian that “it was very good.” Her face absolutely lit up in a smile that made my day! Again in Bulgarian I asked what it was called. “Kifla” she replied and said more that I didn’t catch. I assume she was either complimenting me on my good taste or my fluent Bulgarian.”In the immortal words of rapper Ice Cube, “Today I didn’t even have to use my AK, I gotta say it was a good day.” Seems like you’re setting the bar a little low there Ice, but I gotta say, in spite of it all, it was a good day.

Tuesday (5/24). We set out to join a guided walking tour of town. Instead of finding our guide, we found thousands of participants in the May 24th celebration of the birth of the Cyrillic alphabet. Really! This is a seriously big deal and has been celebrated  in Plovdiv since 1851. We abandoned our walking tour plans and just went with the flow.

Following the parade we took a walk through the Kapana neighborhood. For many hundreds of years, this part of town was where crafts people operated. During the Communist era, they kicked out the capitalist pigs and padlocked all the houses and shops. Only since the collapse of Soviet Union has the area been revitalized as an arts district. It is filled with appealing restaurants, bars, art galleries and some seriously cool street art.

After rest (Sharon) and errands (Dave) we joined the crowds for their evening stroll in the Tsar Simeon park across from our apartment. Eventually we came to rest on a comfy perch and just watched people. Parents and/or grandparents with young children, young people in love and others just messing about, friends walking arm in arm, old people in love, people alone with their thoughts…everyone was out enjoying a beautiful spring evening. 

Wednesday (5/25). Today Adi shared her knowledge of Bulgaria in general, and Plovdiv in particular. Adi is a “Free Walking Tour” guide. These tours are common throughout Europe. You sign up or show at a specific time and place, and a highly trained guide shares his or her knowledge of a place. The tour truly is free. At the start, the guides say that if we enjoy the tour we can support them with a donation. We have always found great value in the tours, and that was the case again today. It was a little like trying to drink from a fire hose! There is clearly much to be learned about a city that has been continuously inhabited for 6,000 years.

During the tour there is time to chat in between stops. We connected with Natalia from Russia. Very interesting to learn a bit about her life. After the tour we went out for lunch with Jurgen and Andrea from Germany. As always, we enjoyed swapping travel stories as well as exchanging questions and answers about life in Germany and the US.

Thursday (5/26). Somewhat reluctantly we left Plovdiv this morning. We are typically not impressed by large cities, but we found much to admire here. We ended the day after forty-five unremarkable miles, camped next to the beautiful Maritsa River. It provided a much need bath after a 90 degree day. We are now poised to enter the realm of snow capped peaks.

Friday (5/27). With the rushing river nearby and mild temps, it was a perfect night. We began our climb up mild slopes and arrived at Kostenets late morning. Over lunch, we ended up having quite a serious talk. For some time now, Sharon has been struggling mentally with the day to day grind of cycling. We’ve tried different strategies to keep it enjoyable. Finally though, when it stops being fun, it’s time to change the plan. After considering lots of options and different scenarios, Sharon decided to leap ahead by train to a pleasant beach town in Montenegro. Two weeks later, more or less, I should arrive there via bicycle. It will be a major adjustment for both of us to be alone. But hopefully by the time we reunite, we’ll have a good idea what the rest of trip may look like. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out privately.

Saturday (5/28). It was a sad to part ways, but I think we are both excited to see how this works, and to embark on our separate adventures. Sharon caught a train to Sofia. I turned west – and up into the Rila Mountains. For hours while I labored in my low gears, lightning thundered and crashed all around. It was really spectacular. When rain finally came, I’d found a lunch spot to wait it out. When this storm cell blew itself out, I made a break. I was fifteen miles farther down the road before the skies opened again. This time I took cover in a bus shelter in Klisura. After several hours of noise and fury and hard rain with no sign of it stopping, I broke out the rain gear. Ten wet miles later, I arrived at a guest house in Sapareva Sapareva Banya.

And that, my friends, is where this week ends. Two solo travelers spending a last day or two in Bulgaria before moving on. Hope you are enjoying your own adventures! STC!